Let Me Tell You About Trams and Creeps

I have had a couple of uncomfortable experiences in Melbourne so far. The first was on a tram when I went to check out Brunswick. Two men who had clearly been drinking got on and were standing and then sitting near me. They were having a conversation that would make anyone uncomfortable, talking about teaching people lessons and one was saying he was going to go slash some guy's face. Then one realised he was sitting next to a little girl and asked the man sitting opposite if it was his daughter and apologised for swearing, which is fair enough, but then he continued to talk to the father. The father was black and I don't remember exactly what it was but there was some racist subtext going on. One of the drunk guys berated the other for striking up conversation with just anybody and said when they got home "Betsy will teach you a lesson" to which the other responded he would "snap Betsy in half and shove her down [his] throat." Once they got off the lady sitting next to me, a guy who had been standing and took one of their seats, and I started talking about it. The lady said she had heard they guy talk about using Betsy to teach someone a lesson, so we could figure Betsy is a knife, and she also noticed him tapping his Australian flag tattoo when berating the other for talking to the black man. Overall a very unpleasant experience, probably more so for the man and his daughter.

More tram experiences-
Today I was at a tram stop and on a tram which came before mine I could hear two men arguing loudly. The driver put his speaker on and told them to sit down apart from each other and not to talk to each other anymore. I was pretty amused by that.
Then my tram came, the free city circle, which I am now thankful for as I had left my myki card at the hostel and walked a long way.

My other unpleasant experience happened just about an hour ago, sitting here in federation square. I had my headphones in and was about to start a blog post and a man came and crouched by my chair, far too close, right in my personal space. I paused my music to see what he wanted. A few people have approached me here asking if I know where something is or students doing surveys for schoolwork, which is fine. This guy says "this probably seems random, but I saw you sitting here and thought you looked nice so I thought I would say hi." There are times when an intro like that could work out and get a good conversation started, but he was so in my face and too close and had obviously interrupted me and it just seemed creepy. I said yes that was random but ok fine, he introduced himself, asked if I am Australian, when I said no English he asked if I was from London, when I said no Kent he said that sounds like a boring place, which seems to me a very strange thing to say to someone you want to talk to. The feeling was generally tense and awkward so I tried to politely diffuse and said I was going to carry on what I was doing, to which this arrogant prick says "what is more important than talking to me?" So I told him, "Everything. Now leave me alone." He walked away saying "fine, I don't talk to boring people anyway" because obviously a woman who tells him to piss off must be boring.

Friends and Money

I had job interviews today. In sales. Selling door to door for energy companies. Different but if you don't make sales it pays enough to get by and if you do make sales it pays well. So it seems likely I am going to work for one of those companies and try something new. They sound like fun workplaces anyway with lots of staff drinks and events.

Other than that last night I made friends with a half English half South African guy because he looked at me funny when I did a handstand in federation square. We walked and got ice cream and went to the arcade. I obviously got over excited at the arcade and did pretty well doing La Bamba on DDR.

It will probably take nearly a month to get my passport back which means no ID so no drinking for me but I suppose that saves me money.

Something Bad Happened

Somewhere in the top 10 things that turn your overseas trip upside down and make you want to throw it in is the number 1 thing which stops you doing that. That is losing your passport, which this afternoon I realised I had done. After a stressful hour searching through my bags and checking the hostel lost property I managed to lose the sick knot in my stomach, get my head together and accept that I would just have to deal with the paperwork (police, NZ consulate, insurance) and get a new passport, so that is tomorrow morning's activities decided.

That consumed a lot of my afternoon but I had already done CV dropping this morning, so with what was left of the day I got myself veggie pho and chocolate cake, then joined in the hostel giant jenga tournament, in which I came 4th, winning a water bottle and $5 off a night at the hostel.

So here's to travel insurance!

Have I Really Only Been Here a Day?

It feels like longer. I seem to have packed a lot in today.

I activated my bank account, and realised I am running on my small amount of cash until my international bank transfer clears and I have money on my Australian debit card.
I visited optus because my 3g data wasn't working and they changed  some settings for me. Then I dropped more CVs around the city, got a Lord of the Fries chick'n burger (I liked their fries much more than the burger, but I will give the other options a go), then walked to South Bank. I dropped CVs there but not many seemed to be hiring.

I spoke to people today, charity and promotions people who I would usually blow off and walk straight past. First a guy doing charity sign ups. Since I said I was looking for a job he didn't bother trying to get me interested in that, he just said his Melbourne job hunting tip is make sure you try the side streets. Then a girl doing charity sign ups who also didn't try to sign me up, but turned out to be from Tunbridge Wells.

This evening I decided to go to a free fitness class I had seen advertised and it was great. As well as the fact getting a workout was awesome I got to chat with people. On the way back from that I stopped at a supermarket then stopped and chatted with a guy promoting a new gym. He gave me a free bottle of water.

I did extremely well on my low budget for the next couple of days for dinner and bought a bottle of soda water, can of lentils, and jar of pasta sauce, all for $3.60. So lentil pasta for dinner (I bought pasta yesterday) cost under $2 for a large serving.

Now I am going to read until I fall asleep. :)

Catch Ups and Goodbyes, Flights and Fries

To begin the next installment of the story we continue on the bus. Between Rotorua and Cambridge I met a woman, I guess around 27. She is from Gisborne. She has a masters. Her undergrad was in political science and something else I forget, honours in development studies, and her masters topic was about the links/effects between music and cultures, which I think sounds really interesting. I had been thinking about the fact I would meet lots of interesting people on my travels and I think I will try to remember them in this blog, so the woman on the bus will be the first of the interesting people I tell you about.

She lived in Spain for a year, initially really near where my family used to have a villa on the Costa Blanca. Then she went north because her plans in Moraira fell through. Then she came back to NZ for summer and on tuesday she is going back to Spain. We talked about our studies and languages. It was good conversation. Then she got off the bus and some guy took her seat but I didn't feel like talking anymore so I turned my attention to games and music.

In Auckland I met up with highschool friend, Steph, and uni friend, Lauren. Lauren drove me round a bit so I saw more of Auckland/North Shore than I had before. Then Steph and I walked along K Road in search of dinner, which ended up being at a very tasty Mexican place which satisfied my burrito cravings. Both needing to be up early we obliviously got an early night (read: couldn't stop chatting because it had been so long so lost out on sleep).

5.40am rolled around and I hauled myself out past the AUT night security staff pool game and along to the bus stop, where the bus proceeded to not show up and a Japanese man got chatting to me and kept telling me I am cute. I am not so sure about that, especially at 6am. Thankfully a shuttle driver doing a hotel pick up next to the bus stop offered to take me and the Japanese man for $10 each, which is less than the airbus costs anyway. Made the airport in plenty of time, found avocado sushi as my best breakfast option, then onto the plane. As I walked along the tunnel onto the plane I considered that it was my first international flight alone. I have flown a lot of times, but I guess that is a pretty big step.

On the plane the safety video was the best I have ever seen. Air NZ's current video is "Air Middle Earth" where the staff take on various Hobbit roles, complete with cameo from Peter Jackson. The acting wasn't the best but it was overall great and actually pretty funny.

I have finally seen Pitch Perfect. I put that on first and loved it, then watched About Time, which was alright. We made it to Melbourne a few minutes early. Then we sat on the runway for two hours because the airport had had a security breach and full evacuation in the morning so delayed departures were holding up all of the gates.

When I finally made it through I picked up my arranged shuttle and checked in at my luxury accommodation - a backpackers, where I am sharing a 12 bed female dorm. So far it actually seems good. Not too noisy, but it is a sunday so I guess other nights could be louder.

The rest of the story so far just involved wandering around the CBD, getting kumara (sweet potato) fries from Lord of the Fries, and being super tired by 8pm local time so escaping to my dorm room to write this then read and sleep.

From the bus to Auckland

Here begins my travel adventure, so here begins a blog to record the adventure. A blog with a Disney title no less.

Right now I am on a bus from Hastings to Auckland. I said some goodbyes in Hastings, tonight I get to catch up with old friends in Auckland, then tomorrow I fly to Melbourne to meet new people and see new things.

It has only just begun!